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<title>Little Soldier Boy by flabby_abby69</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27037153">Little Soldier Boy</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/flabby_abby69/pseuds/flabby_abby69'>flabby_abby69</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:15:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,342</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27037153</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/flabby_abby69/pseuds/flabby_abby69</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The tragic death of a little soldier boy puts an end to the Siege of Ba Sing Se.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Boy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The little soldier boy took his stance just within the crumbling walls of Ba Sing Se, slashing his hands through the air and setting fire to the first buildings in sight.</p><p>Fire Nation soldiers roared and raged all around him as they attacked the Earthbenders with all their might.  Rocks were flying, dust was dancing with smoke in the sky, fire was blooming, and screams were echoing in the soldier's ears.  It was exhilarating.</p><p>The boy glanced over at his father right after disarming another Earthbender to his left.  The General seemed to enjoy the battle just as much as his son.  He was grinning from ear to ear, breathing fire and destroying everything in his path.</p><p>Sometimes a tiny voice in the soldier's head told him this was wrong.  Burning down the homes of innocent people, terrorizing citizens of other nations with the Fire Nation's ultimate power.  But the boy trusted his father.  So he smothered that voice and listened to the other one instead.</p><p><em>Burn.  Destroy.  It is your </em>purpose<em>.  Your </em>duty<em>.</em></p><p>"I smell victory!" his father yelled over his shoulder, dancing and kicking and punching.  The General was so graceful, so swift in his red and gold armor that he almost looked like a dragon.</p><p>"Me too!" the soldier boy replied, forcing out a great wall of fire that sent the Earthbenders screaming.  It was almost too easy.</p><p>The soldier was starting to think of celebrating after they won.  He began daydreaming about laughing with his friends, Ruben and Dai-Lon, as they drank cup after cup of tea, sharing all of their battle stories as they rolled around in their riches from the Earth Kingdom that would soon be theirs. </p><p>But then his ears betrayed him, latching onto the cries of a little girl.  How the boy heard her over the rage of war, he didn't know.  It didn't matter.  Because when his golden eyes landed on her, all he could see was the looming shadow growing bigger and bigger.  She was about to be crushed by the crumbling walls of Ba Sing Se.</p><p>Without thinking, the little soldier boy threw his body toward her with all his might.</p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Father</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Lu Ten!" General Iroh screamed.  "What are you doing—?"</p><p>The Fire Nation prince froze as he watched the scene play out in slow motion.  His son running towards a crying child.  The chunk of rock from the walls of Ba Sing Se hurtling towards them.  Lu Ten shoving the girl out of the way.</p><p>"<em>No</em>!" Prince Iroh roared, tearing across the battlefield.</p><p>But it was too late.</p><p>"<em>No, no, no</em>!" Iroh continued to bellow, each word burning his throat.  He couldn't even see his son through the giant plume of dust that had risen.  "Lu Ten! My son! Can you hear me?" Silence. </p><p>The General started clawing at the boulder that lay on Lu Ten's lower body.  "Someone! Someone help me!" he yelled.  Several men nearby rushed to his aid, helping him roll the giant rock off of his son.</p><p>Iroh hurled himself to the ground, forgetting about the battle around him, ignoring the bright flashes of fire and rumblings in the earth.  His bronze eyes were wide and wet as he shook his son. </p><p>"Lu Ten! Speak to me! Are you alright?"</p><p>The little soldier boy coughed weakly.  His black hair was mused and his pale face was bleeding, but his golden eyes still managed to smile.  "Hello, Papa."</p><p>Prince Iroh breathed a sigh of relief, but could not stop shaking.  Could not ignore the fact that something was terribly, terribly wrong.  "My son! <em>Why did you do that</em>?"</p><p>Lu Ten's long, dark lashes fluttered.  "I don't know," he finally rasped, and Iroh grasped his hands.  "It just... I think it was the right thing to do." Tears were streaming down his face now.</p><p>"What do you mean, Lu?" Iroh asked frantically, his own tears threatening to escape.  There was no response.  "<em>No, no, no</em>!" The prince squeezed Lu Ten's hands, trying to force his own life into his son's cold body.</p><p>Suddenly, Lu Ten squeezed back.  "Papa..." His golden eyes widened.  He finally seemed to realize he was dying.  "Papa, <em>please save me</em>."</p><p>"I will, Lu!" Iroh began, but it was a lie.  The little soldier boy's hand went limp.  "<em>Lu Ten, my son, I am saving you! I will save you</em>!" The General grasped the boy's head, holding him to his chest.  "No, no, no," he mumbled.  "No, no, no..."</p><p>Then, with shaking hands, Iroh held his son away from him, and looked deep into his lifeless eyes.  "<em>NO!</em>" he screamed up at the dark, dark sky, clutching his son to him.  The tears escaped, then, mixing with the blood and the dirt and the pain.</p><p>General Iroh, Fire Nation Prince and heir to the throne sat there with his dead son, rocking back and forth, back and forth as the battle raged on.  No one cared about the lifeless little soldier boy. </p><p>No one seemed to be thinking about the way Lu Ten would smile when Iroh let him win at Pai Sho.  Not a single soldier came to ask Lu Ten about Kailara, the beautiful, young lady he would wink at from across the palace gardens.  The Earthbenders and Firebenders just kept on fighting, kept on killing each other, one by one.</p><p>And that's when Iroh finally saw them for what they truly were.  The soldiers around him were not Firebenders nor Earthbenders.  They were not Fire Nation and they weren't Earth Kingdom.  They were people.  Just people.  Like him, and like Lu Ten.</p><p>Really, Iroh had seen it all along.  He had felt the connection to everyone else since the day he was born into the world.  The prince of the Fire Nation had simply chosen to ignore it because it was easier that way.  It was so complicated, the way Air Nomads and the Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation were all intertwined.</p><p>They were all vital parts and pieces of the universe, destroying each other when they could be working together.  They were all leaves on a vine, falling, falling, when they could be growing together.  When they could be evolving into more beautiful, stronger parts of the universe. </p><p>Iroh's tears escaped slowly now.  <em>Drip... drip... drip</em> onto the body of his son.  He sighed, knowing what he had to do. </p><p>Slowly, he raised his hand and spread his fingers. </p><p>A couple soldiers near him noticed.  "General, you want us to <em>retreat</em>?"</p><p>"But we are about to win!"</p><p>"Yes! We can <em>crush</em> them!"</p><p>Iroh simply shook his head, keeping his open palm high in the air.  "Retreat," he whispered, and somehow, his soldiers heard him. </p><p>"Um, yes, General." The man closest to him scratched his head.  "You heard the prince! <em>Retreat</em>!"</p><p>The Firebenders passed on the news to those around them, and even though none of them understood, they all followed orders.  The soldiers slowly marched back through the hole in the great wall of Ba Sing Se, and the Earthbenders before Iroh slowly let their boulders crash to the ground.</p><p>There was confused muttering and hushed discussion before the Earth Kingdom soldiers crawled back into the depths of their city to recover.  None of them noticed the father and his son, lying on the ground.  And none of them saw the little girl with dirty braids and a teddy bear clutched in her skinny arms.</p><p>Except for Iroh.  He slowly looked up at her, then back at his son, his lovely Lu Ten.  Then the father gently laid the little soldier boy's head down on the ground to rest.</p><p>The tiny, Earth Kingdom girl shied away from Iroh as he shuffled over to her.  He placed a hand on her bony shoulder anyway.</p><p>"Go home," Iroh rasped.  And she did.</p><p>The father closed his eyes, only one tear remaining on his weathered cheeks, and he gathered his son in his strong arms.</p><p>Iroh smiled sadly.  There was a beautiful tree in the distance, swaying in the wind.</p><p> </p>
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